Jeff Adams

Sorry I didn’t get to post the final night I was in Amsterdam. Just about the time I was ready to sit down and review the day’s activities I lost my Internet connection. Last night we got home way too late. Cheryl and I were traveling alone and we missed our flight in Houston due to long lines in immigration. We managed to get seats on the final flight of the day to KC, getting in to the airport a bit after 11:00pm.

Amsterdam as seen from a canal

The final day of teaching finished up an historical survey of modern missions and focused on personal application of what we had been learning. Hearing individual testimonies was both a blessing and an encouragement. It was also a reminder why I have done this almost every year for about 20 years. I have probably seen more fruit and transformed lives from this trip than just about any other type of activity that I do. Being in another culture and stretched beyond our comfort level is a great way to learn lessons that stick for a lifetime.

Six churches were represented by the participants who were with us. Dave Klass is a pastor in Helena, Montana and has attended our conferences, loves our church and loves mission. Russ and Jennifer Katherman from KCBT worked by his side for many years and are now reproducing Dave’s church in another on the other side of Helena. Dave told me that he expected great things from this trip, but that it had far exceeded his wildest expectations.

Amsterdam's Sea Palace

Another key pastor present was Brad Nelson. Brad is pastor of Princeton Bible Church, meeting on the campus of Princeton University. Mike Pitts started the church 14 years ago when he went out from KCBT and Brad joined him a year later. Mike is now back in Missouri and Brad continues the work. These two guys have done a fabulous job through the years without a lot of help or encouragement from us. I was so blessed to be able to hang out with Brad and get a better feel for his heart. Brad also blogged about his experience in Amsterdam and you might want to check out his perspective here.

The final afternoon was dedicated to last minute shopping. Then, we took a canal boat tour of the city (Amsterdam has more canals than Venice). Finally, we put a bow on our experience by dining together at the Sea Palace, a floating Chinese restaurant that is always a highlight of the trip.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 10:16 am and is filed under Jeff's Journeys, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.